BJP veteran L.K. Advani and MP Varun Gandhi are noticeable absentees from the party list of 40-odd star campaigners for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections submitted to the Election Commission on Saturday.

In addition to party veteran LK Advani, senior leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar are also conspicuous by their absence from the list.(Reuters file )

BJP veteran L.K. Advani and MP Varun Gandhi are noticeable absentees from the party list of 40-odd star campaigners for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections submitted to the Election Commission on Saturday.

Senior party leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar are also conspicuous by their absence from the list.

Swami Prasad Maurya and Narendra Kashyap, who joined the BJP after leaving the Bahujan Samaj Party, are also there.

Katiyar, who played a key role in the Ram Mandir movement, has not been given any key assignment by the party in the recent past.

Varun Gandhi was projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial face by his supporters but the move apparently did not go down well with the party’s central leadership. His mother and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, however, finds a place in the list.

Some lesser known party names such as Ravikant Garg, B.L. Verma and Lokesh Prajapati too are on the list.

Uttar Pradesh will see seven-phased elections between February 11 and March 8.